Cabled backplane system having an electromagnetic radiation absorber

Abstract

A cable backplane system includes a tray having a frame with side walls surrounding a raceway. The side walls extend to a front edge of the frame. The tray includes spacers coupled to the tray located proximate to the front edge. Cable connectors are held by corresponding spacers in position relative to the backplane. The cable backplane system includes an electromagnetic radiation (EMR) absorber extending along an opening in the tray to suppress the propagation of EMR into or out of the tray.

Description

BACKGROUND[0001]The subject matter herein relates generally to communication systems that utilize cable connectors.[0002]Communication systems, such as network systems, servers, data centers, and the like, use large printed circuit boards, known as backplanes, to interconnect midplanes, daughtercards, line cards and / or switch cards. The communication systems use high speed differential connectors mounted to the backplane and high speed differential connectors mounted to the line cards and switch cards to transmit signals therebetween. The backplane interconnects the various connectors using traces along the circuit board.[0003]As the density of the systems increase and as the requirements for high speed lines become more complex, achieving a baseline level of signal integrity can be challenging. At least some systems have replaced the traditional backplanes with cabled backplane systems. In cabled backplane systems, cable connectors of a tray directly engage mating connectors of lin...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0006]In an embodiment a cable backplane system is disclosed. The cable backplane system has a backplane having a plurality of backplane openings therethrough. The backplane has mounting areas surrounding corresponding openings. The cable backplane system includes a cable rack coupled to a rear of the backplane. The cable rack comprises a tray having a frame with side walls surrounding a cavity defining a raceway. The side walls extend from a front edge of the frame. The cable rack also includes spacers coupled to the tray proximate to the front edge. The cable connectors have cables extending therefrom and routed in the raceway. The cable connectors are received in corresponding backplane openings and held in position relative to the backplane by the spacers. The cable rack also includes an electromagnetic radiation (EMR) absorber extending along the front edge of the frame. The EMR absorber engages corresponding mounting areas of the backplane. The EMR absorber suppresses the propagation of electromagnetic radiation into or out of the tray.

[0007]In an embodiment, a cable backplane system is disclosed. The cable backplane system comprises a tray having a frame with side walls surrounding a cavity defining a raceway. The side walls extend to a front edge of the frame. The tray includes a bottom having an opening provided along the bottom of the tray. The tray also includes a top having an opening provided along the top of the tray. The cable backplane system also includes spacers coupled to the tray proximate to the front edge. The cable backplane system also includes cable connectors having a plurality of cables extending therefrom and routed in the raceway. The cable connectors are held in position relative to the backplane by the spacers. The cable backplane system also includes electromagnetic radiation absorbers extending along at least one of the top opening and the bottom opening in the tray to suppress the propagation of electromagnetic radiation into or out of the tray.

Problems solved by technology

As the density of the systems increase and as the requirements for high speed lines become more complex, achieving a baseline level of signal integrity can be challenging.

Electrical connector systems that operate with data transmission rates above 10 Gbps (Gigabits / second) are often vulnerable to electromagnetic interference (EMI).

However, in order to perform maintenance on an individual tray, all of the trays in the chassis have to be powered down.

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